bighoo93
04-19-2008, 01:47 PM
So, after a few brief problems (described below), my new computer is up and running beautifully. In fact, I am writing this message from it.
Case/PSU: Antec Sonata III - $99.95 (NewEgg). Includes $20 discount, $30 rebate, and free shipping.
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - $214.00 (FuturePowerPC). Free shipping. NewEgg out of stock.
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX - $96.99 (Newegg). Includes $10 discount and $7 shipping.
Memory: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - $29 (Newegg). Includes $10 discount and $40 rebate. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145034
Video Card: EVGA 256-P2-N751-TR GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 - $49.99 (NewEgg). Includes $30 rebate. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130085)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM - $89.99 (NewEgg) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136073
CD/DVD burner: Lite-On DVD/CD burner with LightScribe http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106072 $32.99 (NewEgg). Includes $5 discount and free shipping.
OS: Vista Home Premium - $92.72 (VioSoftware). Includes free shipping.
Total, including rebates and shipping: $705.63. Only $7 of that is shipping, and no sales tax. I plan to post on some thoughts and lessons learned on preparing for the build in a separate thread. BTW, for those who care, this rates at a 5.5 on the Windows experience scale (the video card is the limiting factor). And who came up with a 5.9 point scale anyway? Did figure skating judges devise it? What did the French judge score my computer. Nevermind...
I wanted to mention the few places that I got hung up during my install following Rob's outstanding website. If it weren't for this site, I doubt I would have built my own computer. That said, I think it makes sense to offer places where we've run into trouble using the website guide for our build, so that this website can stay current and relevant. I only had three real challenges that took up a pretty good amount of time:
Installing the stock CPU cooler. The instructions that came with it were awful. They were pictures with no text. So they left out key pieces, such as the proper orientation of the four pieces you have to push down, in order to get them to set tightly into the motherboard. I spent a lot of frustrating time trying to get the cooler in correctly, until I actually saw fantastic instructions in the Gigabyte motherboard manual, of all places. I wish Rob's site had instructions for installing the stock cooler, and installing the AF7 Pro, since those are the most common in use here. I'm sure this is simple stuff when you have done it once, but his site is for new builders, so that would really help.
Connecting the PSU to the motherboard. Also simple, but there is a second attachment in addition to the 24-pin connection that needs to be made. Otherwise, at first boot you get only fans spinning, with no monitor and no beeps (at least with the Antec Sonata III and Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L combo). I followed almost all of Rob's recommended first boot problem solutions, plus many others, all in vain. Seems like this might be fairly common, but really, I should have followed the instructions that came with the mobo. Edit - Looking at it today, Rob's instructions appear to explain this perfectly. Unless they were changed today, I must have looked at the 20-pin instructions instead of the 24-pin ones. Doh!
Partitioning hard drives (Vista installation): Really, this is an issue with including Vista installation instructions instead of or in addition to XP. Vista is now the current standard, even if some people will be installing XP on their new machines. And its just different. In particular, the process for creating drive partitions is not the same and is not straightforward. I was familiar with how it looked in XP, and Rob's page explains that, but I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to partition the drive in Vista. Again, simple if you know it, but if you know it, you wouldn't be here. I think a Vista install guide is really needed to keep Rob's page relevant.
Case/PSU: Antec Sonata III - $99.95 (NewEgg). Includes $20 discount, $30 rebate, and free shipping.
Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - $214.00 (FuturePowerPC). Free shipping. NewEgg out of stock.
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX - $96.99 (Newegg). Includes $10 discount and $7 shipping.
Memory: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) - $29 (Newegg). Includes $10 discount and $40 rebate. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145034
Video Card: EVGA 256-P2-N751-TR GeForce 8600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 - $49.99 (NewEgg). Includes $30 rebate. (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130085)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM - $89.99 (NewEgg) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136073
CD/DVD burner: Lite-On DVD/CD burner with LightScribe http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106072 $32.99 (NewEgg). Includes $5 discount and free shipping.
OS: Vista Home Premium - $92.72 (VioSoftware). Includes free shipping.
Total, including rebates and shipping: $705.63. Only $7 of that is shipping, and no sales tax. I plan to post on some thoughts and lessons learned on preparing for the build in a separate thread. BTW, for those who care, this rates at a 5.5 on the Windows experience scale (the video card is the limiting factor). And who came up with a 5.9 point scale anyway? Did figure skating judges devise it? What did the French judge score my computer. Nevermind...
I wanted to mention the few places that I got hung up during my install following Rob's outstanding website. If it weren't for this site, I doubt I would have built my own computer. That said, I think it makes sense to offer places where we've run into trouble using the website guide for our build, so that this website can stay current and relevant. I only had three real challenges that took up a pretty good amount of time:
Installing the stock CPU cooler. The instructions that came with it were awful. They were pictures with no text. So they left out key pieces, such as the proper orientation of the four pieces you have to push down, in order to get them to set tightly into the motherboard. I spent a lot of frustrating time trying to get the cooler in correctly, until I actually saw fantastic instructions in the Gigabyte motherboard manual, of all places. I wish Rob's site had instructions for installing the stock cooler, and installing the AF7 Pro, since those are the most common in use here. I'm sure this is simple stuff when you have done it once, but his site is for new builders, so that would really help.
Connecting the PSU to the motherboard. Also simple, but there is a second attachment in addition to the 24-pin connection that needs to be made. Otherwise, at first boot you get only fans spinning, with no monitor and no beeps (at least with the Antec Sonata III and Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L combo). I followed almost all of Rob's recommended first boot problem solutions, plus many others, all in vain. Seems like this might be fairly common, but really, I should have followed the instructions that came with the mobo. Edit - Looking at it today, Rob's instructions appear to explain this perfectly. Unless they were changed today, I must have looked at the 20-pin instructions instead of the 24-pin ones. Doh!
Partitioning hard drives (Vista installation): Really, this is an issue with including Vista installation instructions instead of or in addition to XP. Vista is now the current standard, even if some people will be installing XP on their new machines. And its just different. In particular, the process for creating drive partitions is not the same and is not straightforward. I was familiar with how it looked in XP, and Rob's page explains that, but I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to partition the drive in Vista. Again, simple if you know it, but if you know it, you wouldn't be here. I think a Vista install guide is really needed to keep Rob's page relevant.